Reds InsiderFrom news of the day to news of the weird, John Fay provides a glimpse of what it’s like to cover the Cincinnati Reds

John Fay has been the Reds beat writer for the Enquirer since 2001. Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles for the Enquirer: backup Reds writer, UC beat writer, backup Bengals writer and as a general assignment reporter. He is a Cincinnati native and a graduate of Elder High School and the University of Dayton.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Dusty on Sparky, Bruce

"I'd really like to see that," he said. "He gave me a lot of advice. I'd like to bring him for a couple of days. . . I called it going to library when talked to guys like him, Bill Walsh, Al Attles."

Baker got his first look at Jay Bruce hitting yesterday.

“He’s got a very good stroke,” Baker said. “It’s just BP. But you can still see places where a person might have flaws, you need to correct this and that. But he has a very good stroke. He come through the zone with balance. He keeps his head still and down.

“Just from talking to him, he’s very confident that he can hit without being arrogant about it, which is the first thing you want to be in a young hitter. The confidence part is something you can’t give them. You’d rather not see them arrogant because they won listen.”

And the difference between confidence and arrogance?

"I can tell the difference because I had some of both myself."

Baker and Bruce were together on the Winter Caravan.

“I spent three or four days with him on the caravan. It was a very productive days as far as getting to know him – to get away from the stadium, the people, the crowd. People tend to be more relaxed. I was very impressed.”

“He’s a very mature young man. It sounds like he’s had a lot of responsibility in his life at a young age. It makes you grow up rather quickly.”

Baker's saying a lot of nice things about everyone. Bako, Sauerbeck, Valentin, the kids. At some point, say around March 1, these people will have to walk the walk. I wouldn't read too much into cheery compliments at this point of camp. Nobody sucks, yet.

How come we always get stuck with these "once above average players". Hatteberg, Conine, Lofton, Weathers, Stanton, Royce Clayton. I can't wait until year 2019 when we have Johan Santana, Russell Martin, and Manny Ramirez

Here is a outfield of next year discussion for everyone. If you were the Reds, who do you want in the Outfield for next year? With Dunn, and Griffey up for resigning this year, the question if relavent now that Hamilton is gone. I think one of those two have to be signed, and I would pick Dunn. So...

Hopper CFBruce RFDunn LF

they seem to be the best outfield for next year. Maybe Stubbs or another young guy pushes Hopper for CF, but I would be happy about that for the large expectations (stud young pitchers with a year of experience) I have for next year.Adrian

Heras a great comment about our best young hitter. Dusty sees flaws in his swing . Maybe he will change him into another .260 hitter with 200 K's. See Adam Dunn. If the Reds break camp with Stanton on the team, we can expect another year like the rest

Reds fans are, hands down, my favorite fans of any team in any sport. Over the winter, some people wanted the Reds to trade for, or sign, every starting pitcher the fans had heard of. Now, some fans want the Reds to sign any OF that they've heard of, completely irrespective of whether or not the Reds need outfielders or not. I don't know if I've ever seen a group of fans that was so hot for a player simply because they knew who that player was, or because that player was a one-time star/phenom. Crazy.

So Al as a Reds fan do you yourself feel that you are crazy? Or do you just feel that other Reds fans are crazy? Do the Reds need a good to great SP? Yes. Do the Reds need a reliable, fast, high obp type OF? Yes. Ryan Freel is best suited as a supersub, and it has been seen that playing everyday lowers his production. Hopper hasn't really done on any level what he did last year. Our rotation is going to be rounded up with some trio of 3 rookies, a reliever, and Matt Belisle. It would be great to sign Lofton. It would have been great to add Bedard. Who knew he would have been worth more than Santana? I don't see the point in calling Reds fans crazy for trying to add players to fill holes.

Awe yes, Mr. R, the David Espinosa treatment. Now I recall. Was it acuired in the A. Boone deal?

"was originally signed by the Mets out of the Dominican Republic in 1998"We picked him up in 2002, but he only had 18 ab's I think do to injury. His 5 years (option years?) were up in 03, when we had to keep him up or expose him to waivers

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